Town & Gown anniversary committee report, April 9, 2001
Note: Names don't appear in full. See your "Envoy" if you don't know them already.
The committee consists of John V., Harriet A., Ben T., Florence K. and Amy M. The first three named met on April 2 to discuss initial plans for Town & Gown's 50th anniversary celebration.
- We recommend that all our observances of the 50th anniversary take place in the 2003-4 season.
- We could have justified 2002-3 as the "fiftieth season" but felt that the point was weakened because we don't have records of a production in 1958-59.
- The anniversary of the very first Town & Gown performance (March 30, 1954) falls in the 3-4 season. In our judgment, celebrating both a "fiftieth season" and a separate "fiftieth anniversary" would mean breaking focus.
- By holding the big celebrations a year later than we had contemplated, we get an extra year to collect our forces and plan and carry out a full program.
- We recommend that the 2003-4 Mainstage season be devoted to celebrating all the decades of Town & Gown's history, each decade (1950s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s) being represented by one show that premiered then, but that our tradition of adventure and innovation be honored by making each selection a show that Town & Gown has not produced before; and that the sixth Mainstage slot be devoted to a musical that T&G has not produced before. (The decades need not fall in order; the 50s, for example, could well come up at the time of the March 30 anniversary.)
- We recommend that lobby decorations, keepsakes and so forth be keyed to the decades too, and that the displays focus on people.
- We recommend that the 2003-4 Second Stage season include at least one "Taste of" program (scenes from great past productions) and at least one musical revue.
- We recommend that the observances include a Necrology.
- We recommend that a video/oral history program be carried out, including
- Interviews with early participants focusing on people, places and productions
- Interviews with long-time theatergoers and T&G members based on a single question such as, "What is the most exciting moment you remember at Town & Gown?"
and that these recordings be edited and made into loops that we can show in the lobby or the auditorium on performance evenings. - We recommend that the present board make a provisional commitment to meet possible funding needs as follows: 2001-3, for information-gathering, mailings, copying of photographs and documents, video production and general planning outlays; 2003-4, all the above plus increased Second Stage budgets for special events. Money needs are likely to peak between late calendar 2003 and mid-2004.
- We recommend, finally, that the social program be centered on the period from about March to May 2004 and include a "reunion" event.
[For the board's information: The Standing Rules do not require the Play Reading Committee and the Second Stage Committee to start with a blank slate in choosing shows. Each could, in principle, set out to create a theme or decade-by-decade season.]
| Approved Ben Teague web site |
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